The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1887-10-25
In JAPAN.
A Johnson County Missionary
Writes of her Life i'm the
Sunrise Land.
Hunting for the SUMS Eclipse
On Mountain, Under the
Fold of the Stars
and Stripes.
Warrensburg JOurnII.

a ,
| want TO tell you shout the day
We did not see the eclipse of the sun,
and how We spent it.
Early on the msrHing of August,
. 18th, We started for a climb to the
top of the highest mountain of the
Mino range in the neighborhood OF
Katsuoji.
The object OF this long tramp was
to get an uninterrupted view of tie
eclipse, from the signal station ON the
mountain TOP. 1t was reported that
e eclipse would occur on the 18th
Or 18th, and We were anxious not to
miss the event.
| There were seven of US: Mr.. and
Mrs. Hudson. Mrs. j. B. Hale and
her two little boys, Willie and Al thur.
Mrs Hudson's cook, Gihei San, and |.
Now Mr. Hudson is very patriotic and
Ionged to see the stars and stripes float
ing from this mountain top. 80 be
.aouldorei his flag pole, bamboo
about II or 10 feet long, and with
two bottles of water tied to a shor
rope and swung across his other shout.
der, and Ills umbrella in
his other hand, he head
ed the procession. CThe flag
was packed away in one of the baskets
Next came Willie and Arthur, carry
nv between them basket containing
/ watermelon and several other artl-
cIes. This basket was hung ON a
bamboo stick, and they had quite
Tine deciding which should walk be
tore and which behind-for mountain
know, compel us to go
Indian file. Arthur, who is six, and
little shorter, ought to- have gone
before, since the road was all up hill ;;
bit Willie, who is almost nine, wan
| led, "big brother-like," to take the
lead. However, with a little assist
aEce from their mother, they soon fell
into ranks. Mrs. Hudson was next,
with her own and Mrs. Hale's hand
Gags, tied together with string, and
hung across her shoulder. Mrs. Hale
came next then /, carrying a little
bundle, while Gihei San brought up
the rear, carrying two lunch baskets,
hung Oh either end of a four foot pole,
which he balanced skillfully across his
shoulder. (YOu see, We japanese
carry everything across our shoulders
About quarter of a mile up, the lit
tie boys abandoned their basket, and |
ran to get a drink from a wayside |
spring. | slipped my bundle into
their basket, fixed the basket on the
end of the stick, shouldered it and
carried it the remainder of the wav-I
for the watermelon was not much |
lsrger than Arthur's head. Had you
seen us you would have thought US |
':some children just let loose from
school," Up and up we went, wind
Ing around the mountain side, getting |
lovely glimpses of the valley below,
and the river, ike silver ribbon,
winding its way to the sea, and the
mountains and mountains across, ON
the farther side. We did not attempt
to count the villages dotting the val
leys, for they seemed as the sands of
the sea- We could trace the railroad,
which runs from Osaka to Kyoto, and
see the train, as it seemed to creep
along, like big caterpillar" Mrs.
Hudson said.
The only thing that marred our JOY
on that bright day, was that Rev. j.
b. Hale was not well enough to &C
company us.
Everytime we came to a shady
place in the path, one of the little
boys would call out. 80 there is some
nice shade, mama, shall we rest
there p And, usually, the entire
party would put down their "bur-
dens," take seats on the messy stones
or grassy banks, and enjoy the cool,
the shade and the views. Then we
would trudge on again, with much
laughter and many jokes at one
anOther's expense. AT some of the
sharp turns in the road Mr.. HudsOn's
flag pole. or some ones head, seemed
to be in danger. But happily he got
through with no accident worthy of
note. Sometimes the path was rough
and steep, but We had started for the
top ana nothing short of that would
satisfy. And stored away in Mrs.
Hale's hand bag were a number of
pieces of glass, while in Mrs. Hudson's
basket were candles and acandle-
stick. Mrs. Hale had stored away a {
box of matches alO 4; and there were
many speculaticns as TO whether the
papers had made a mistake, and
which day ard hour would prove the
correct one. {